After giving the apartment a thorough cleaning, it was time to give Scout his second bath. Even without the mild anti-anxiety medication he had been on for his recent vet visit (and subsequent first bath), Scout was remarkably good about accepting his bath without deliberately biting or scratching me.
In no way did he enjoy the experience, however.
Poor little fluff-nugget.
About halfway through the experience, I made the mistake of putting him in my lap to lather the shampoo on his belly more easily. He saw his chance and scrambled out of my grasp and up to my left shoulder, then onto my back like a little mountain goat.
With very long, sharp claws.
There is a collection of tiny puncture wounds on my back from where Scout was holding on for dear life until he could safely leap, sopping wet, off my back and onto the bathroom floor.
Unfortunately for him, he was still covered in shampoo, so I had to pick him up and bring him back to finish getting rinced off. My poor boy looked miserable — and cute as he was, I certainly didn’t want to prolong his discomfort any more than was necessary. I got him squeaky-clean, drained the tub, and thus began an incredibly long drying phase.
During which he growled at me several times (he did not appreciate my towel-drying technique).
We managed, though, and I cuddled him into one of my warm sweaters when it was only a hard-to-reach spot on his back that was still damp, and let him fully relax.
Don’t worry: Scout got plenty of treats as a reward for putting up with another bath.
Once evening rolled around, I set about doing some baking: a blueberry bread to bring to work for lunch all week. And of course (though it wasn’t baking per se)… the fillings for my annual handmade Valentine chocolates for Saga.
Scout was extremely keen on helping. While I was taking a short break to eat a bowl of noodles at the kitchen counter, Scout decided to butt-dial the source code of the webpage I’d left open on my laptop: the blueberry bread recipe.
When I first adopted Scout, he would gobble up his food as soon as I gave it to him, probably anxious that it would be stolen from him or taken away. Thankfully, with time, he’s learned that it’s safe to slow down and even take breaks as he eats. In the past few weeks, though, he’s even started to leave food in his dish so that he’ll have some left for when I start to eat my own supper. It’s incredibly sweet of him. Sometimes, I have to take an empty bowl and feign eating just so that he’ll go back to eating.
What did I do to deserve such a good boy?
He left a little in his dish so that he could finish his meal while I treated myself to the end piece of the loaf of blueberry bread (sampling baked goods for quality control purposes when they come out of the oven is essential… and delicious). It’s not that sweet on its own (which is why, like my banana bread recipe, it’s good to eat for lunch), so when I have it as a dessert, I add a little dollop of maple butter for extra sweetness.
The chocolates? Oh, they’re coming along wonderfully. The main half of the truffle shells are chilling in the freezer and will be ready to dress with the fillings I made when I get hone from work tomorrow.
I have an idea about how to garnish the chocolates this year, but we’ll see if the imagined concept works in reality… either way, they’re made with love, as always.